Access Directions | The original location for steel dragons is deep in the Brimhaven Dungeon. Additional spawns have recently been added as well, in Kuradal's Dungeon and around the perimeter of the Ghorrock Fortress (which you encounter during The Temple at Senntisten.)
If you get these for a Slayer assignment, then Kuradal's Dungeon is a no-brainer: they are easy to get to there, can be fought without interference from other monsters, and you can use a ferocious ring for a +4 damage boost on each hit. Otherwise, I recommend fighting at Ghorrock, assuming you are able to. The problem with Brimhaven is that there are only a few steel dragons and they are spread out and mixed with many more iron dragons. Since metal dragons can attack from a distance, if you go to Brimhaven you will be forced to spend some of your time killing iron dragons instead. Also, since there are so few spawns, they can get crowded.
The best way to get to Ghorrock is to use a lava titan familiar to teleport to the lava maze, and then run northwest to the fortress. Otherwise you'll need to use the Wilderness lever to teleport to the deep Wild and run all the way west. Be sure to watch out for revenants when running to the fortress (though it is not actually in the Wilderness itself). If you are attacked by one, you should be able to just outrun it, or kill it -- you are starting out with a full load of supplies, after all! When you get to the fortress, pot up before entering the courtyard. The steel dragons are located mainly north of the northern wall, away from the irons located elsewhere along its perimeter.
If you want to go to Brimhaven instead, follow these steps. Bank in Ardougne, then pay for the boat ride to Brimhaven, and run south to the dungeon and pay Saniboch his 875 gp fee to enter. An alternative to coming from Ardougne is to teleport home if your house is in Brimhaven, then just exit the portal. Once in the dungeon head west, chop the vines, and take the second passage heading north (the first is blocked by more vines.) Go to the end of this passage, and hop the stones across the lava (level 12 Agility). Run south and you'll find passages leading southeast and south; take the south one, which brings you to a chamber with fire giants. Run all the way to the southeast and chop vines to enter an "O-shaped" room. Go to the east and chop the vines again and you'll enter the black demon area. The iron and steel dragons are in the large chamber just south of here, so sip your antifire potion and stat boosting potions and put on Protection from Melee before proceeding through. Once you are ready, enter the area and look for a steel dragon that is unoccupied; you may need to fight an iron dragon at first, and then occasionally again until the monsters become unaggressive. (Avoid moving around too much, so they don't become aggressive again.) |
Equipment | These dragons can be killed effectively using any of the three basic combat styles. Meleeing is fastest, but only if you use full Veracs; its special set effect helps punch through the dragons' tough armor. Be sure to put the flail on the "stab" setting, and you must use super antifire potions (level 85 Herblore) to avoid being toasted by dragon fire. You will want to use Protection from Melee, or even better, Deflect Melee (since you get a few points of recoil damage). Conventional meleeing can be done using a fairly standard setup of an abyssal whip, anti-dragon or dragonfire shield and prayer gear.
For ranging or maging, you don't need to use prayer or heavy armor, because as long as you stand out of melee range, these monsters will just try to hit you with dragonfire. So wear your usual ranging or maging setup, including an anti-dragon or dragonfire shield. If you have 85 Herblore and want to use super antifires here, you can leave the shield at home and use something to boost your attack stats, like an unholy book for ranging or mage's book for maging. Usually, though, you are better off saving those for other dragons where they make more of a difference.
If praying, bring your holy wrench to get extra prayer points. |
Supplies | For meleeing, bring prayer potions and attack and strength boosting potions (extreme/super attack or Zamorak brews, and extreme/super strength). You also need antifire or super antifire potions, depending on whether you are using a shield or not. The dragons also drop super attack and strength potion doses you can use in combat, but this is not reliable.
For ranging, you still need the antifire potions, but not the prayer potions. Add at least two 4-dose ranging (or extreme ranging) potions to increase your kill speed.
To get to the dragons from Ardougne, you need 905 gold coins for the boat and entry fee to the dungeon, and a cheap axe to cut the vines within it.
Bringing a few pieces of cheap food "just in case" is advisable (also to offset damage from Zammy brews, if you are using them).
For ranging, I recommend enchanted emerald and broad-tipped bolts. Start with the emerald (e) to poison, then switch.
For maging, either use fire bolt with chaos gauntlets (cheap but slower) or a higher level spell (faster and gives more XP, but is more expensive.)
Finally, bring some alching runes for the armor and weapon items they drop. |
Familiar | I recommend a beast of burden so you can carry home bones, bars or other drops. |
Combat Notes | At level 246, steel dragons are obviously pretty tough monsters. But they are surprisingly simple to kill as long as you are properly prepared. If meleeing, be sure to watch your prayer carefully, and top up whenever you are down more than 40% from your total.
Spread out your boosting potions. If meleeing, use them more frequently if you get super attack or super strength drops. Look for the message that appears when your antifire is about to wear off and take another dose when needed. Be particularly careful if using super antifires, as they are your only protection.
If you are maging or ranging, simply stand out of melee range and fire away; the dragons will simply attack with firebreath rather than closing to melee you. Just be careful when going to pick up drops and/or ammunition. Maging these dragons can be a good way of training the Magic skill while getting drops to at least partially cover the cost of combat.
The firebreath of these dragons has a long range. As mentioned earlier, if you get attacked by an iron dragon in Brimhaven, you may need to kill it before you can turn your attention to one of the steels.
Note that Deflect Melee is preferred over Protection from Melee because you will occasionally get extra free damage from the recoil effect. |
Drop Notes | Originally the toughest of the three "metallic" dragons in RuneScape, steels now take second place to the much tougher mithril dragons. Like irons and bronzes, they drop dragon platelegs and plateskirts, and also have a chance of dropping the rare and coveted draconic visage. Steel dragons also have many other good drops, including a large number of rune armor, weapon and ammunition items.
They drop three charms at a time, and like most dragons, these are biased towards green. |
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